-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Inside Microsoft's landmark Novell deal
,----[ Quote ]
| The Novell deal, though, is the most interesting tale and the one to which
| Phelps and co-author David Kline go into the most detail. It began
| as "Project Summer"--an effort to get at least one major Linux vendor to sign
| a pact with Microsoft by the summer of 2004. It began with a well-regarded
| salesperson, Susan Hauser, being tapped to confidentially meet with customers
| and see how much support there was for some sort of Microsoft-Linux
| partnership.
|
| The customers were game, Phelps and Kline write, but unwilling to become a
| party in the negotiations themselves. As the effort took longer than
| Microsoft wanted it became "project next summer," the authors quip. The
| company met with Red Hat, starting in the fall of 2004, as part of "Project
| Bridge Builder," though talks broke down after a year and a half. Just as
| those talks were collapsing, in June 2006, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer
| Kevin Turner got a call from Novell's then-president, Ron Hovsepian. A few
| days after that, Brad Smith called Hovsepian back and a new effort, "Project
| Blue," was born.
|
| The sides first met face to face two weeks later at a Hyatt near the Chicago
| airport. That meeting took place amid a convention of female bodybuilders.
| Another meeting took place in September, this time at Microsoft's outside
| counsel's office--in the same conference room where several months earlier
| Microsoft had hammered out an agreement with Sun Microsystems.
|
| "Given the challenges of coming together with Novell," Smith says in the
| book, "I thought it made sense to meet in the same conference room... Plus,
| since the room had been lucky for us once before, I figured that couldn't
| hurt either."
|
| Talks progressed, but had not reached a conclusion. Smith suggested the two
| sides set an October 31 deadline for reaching a deal. Novell agreed that the
| deal would be "done or dead by Halloween." After the last-minute end-run
| around the GPL, the two sides got the deal done and announced it to the world
| on November 2, 2006.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10202356-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Related:
Sun exec accuses Microsoft of 'patent terrorism'
,----[ Quote ]
| The efforts of Microsoft to pressure the Linux community over alleged and
| unspecified patents is akin to "patent terrorism", according to a local
| executive for Sun Microsystems.
`----
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Sun-exec-accuses-Microsoft-of-patent-terrorism-/0,130061733,339280437,00.htm
Microsoft, the art of Corporate Terrorism.
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, no longer the technological leader in the Computer Desktop
| market, is taking on a terrorist role in its attempt remain in power
| at all costs. (see the link to the CNN story below)
|
| The tactic is intended to frighten current, and would be, free
| software users away from products that Microsoft just can't compete
| with. It's not a new tactic, but for the first time desperation is
| beginning to show.
`----
http://sweetcomputing.com/index.php?wiki=Microsoft_Terrorism
Convicted Monopolist Terrorizes Software Industry
,----[ Quote ]
| That headline is designed to grab your attention. Sensationalistic as
| it may be, it also happens to be true, if what you mean by 'terrorize'
| is to provoke fear.
|
| If you've been following the presidential race in the United States,
| you know the present crop of candidates have been exploiting the fear
| of the American people as they never have before in the history of
| the country.
`----
http://www.linux.org/news/opinion/ms_threats.html
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAknJeM8ACgkQU4xAY3RXLo5v+ACfb3hafn97OrGNkT0RtKPnvTzB
HSkAn3cTUgVckJ0nI16NrPhLVvBoQ8p1
=u2fh
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
